One Wintry Spirit's Morning
by Z. Bridgett
Summary: One wintry spirit's morning started off with a return to Burgess, resting in a tree. Jack is rudely awoken by a girl he's never seen before, one he calls, Snowflake. *Companion story to One Wintry Morning* (PM me if there are any grammatical errors or you are confused by something.) Jack's perspective.
1. One Wintry Spirit's Morning

It was late. Or early. It depends on your perspective. Sandy came here hours ago. Manny watched the night silently. The sun would rise over the horizon eventually, but until then, this portion of the world was asleep under a blanket of snow. My snow. Covering Burgess in snow takes more thought than just swinging my staff and letting frozen water fall. No, I have to lay enough snow to cover the town, but not so much that there isn't any water vapor left in the clouds for snow days when school starts again.

Jamie's fourteen now. He won't believe forever. Caleb, Claude, Cupcake, Monty, and Pippa could stop believing any day now, thinking that the Guardians and I are childish fantasies. The other Guardians would be fine; they have thousands of believers and gain more each day as they lose some. I only have a handful.

I yawned, my lake coming in sight. This place was secluded. Undisturbed. Even the animals rarely made a sound here. Finding a tree with snow-laden branches, I hid away, pulling my hood over my head and finding sleep. When I wake, I thought, I'll give them more snow. Not enough to be a storm, but enough to cover their tracks. I don't want "Hurricane Sandy" to happen again. Sandy had nothing to do with it.

Hours later, snow crunched below the tree. The footfalls were soft, as if they were tiptoes. They stopped at the trunk, a soft plop sounding upward. Leaves blocked the view underneath me. The sounds stopped, so I went back to sleep, I was exhausted. Odd.

"Hey!" a girl called. I sighed. Maybe she'll go away? I turned into the tree's trunk.

"Oi!" She shouted. She's going to wake the hibernating animals with her ruckus. "You in blue!" Someone else is with her? Great. Just great. I groaned, thunking my head on the bark. Suddenly, a snowball hit me in the head. No one, not even Jamie, is allowed to do that to me. My head whipped up, my hood falling off. I grabbed my staff, glared at the thrower, and jumped down to the ground.

She was surprised. I didn't particularly care; I'm Jack Frost, I can jump ten feet from a tree without getting hurt. Picking up a book near my knees, I walked toward her, nearly struck to a halt in my tracks. She had beautiful hair that framed her face, highlighting her amazingly shaded eyes. She wasn't thin, at least, not like America's so-called "models." She wore a green coat with frosty stitching on it along with a Laplander, jeans, and a pair of boots. My eyes reached hers again, and that's when I noticed that she wasn't looking through me like other people her age would.

Knowing I'd probably look like a fool, I asked, right as she questioned me, "Can you see me-?"

"Aren't you cold-?"

"Sorry," we both apologized simultaneously. "Stop that - you first - cut it out!" I laughed quietly, watching her expression. Her eyes were downcast. She glanced back up. I saw then that I was at least a head taller than her. I could use her head as a chin rest. In my mind, I imagined hugging her from behind as she laughed, the two of us fitting together like a puzzle. The sun would be setting on a white valley, causing the snow to seem golden. I snapped out of my thoughts. I didn't even know her name.

"Name's Jack," I told her. "Mind telling me yours?"

In return, she said hers, her voice giving a faint lilt. The name was perfect for her.

"Lovely name, Snowflake," I nicknamed her. Her sweater's stitching didn't bring it to my mind, but the way she carried herself, beautifully, individually, yet fragilely if one touch could harm her. Her exterior gave that away, if she hadn't realized it already. She didn't seem to, just as all girls don't unless they use it to their advantage to indulge in questionable affairs. Surely someone as pretty as she isn't alone. "Why hang 'round here?"

She paused, thinking. Her nose scrunched slightly. "Hmm..." she mumbled. "It's beautiful here in the winter, free of the city's influences."

I smiled, shaking my head. She has a way with words. "Why are you alone, I mean, don't you have any friends to hang with?"

"No," she replied slightly stiffly. "I'm new to this city. I just came near Halloween. No one seems to notice me here."

Her words struck a chord. At least she can be seen by people. I nodded at her words.

"Why," she started, "are _you _here alone, without any friends?"

"Well," I began, "I consider you a friend of mine-" It's true. If she doesn't have a friend, then she has me. The friendzone means nothing to me. Don't newly married couples say that they married their best friend?

She interjected, "Acquaintance seems more likely, given we've just met."

I ignored her remark for the moment. "-but other than that, not many people notice me either. At least, not people who are my age. Kids do though." I gestured with my staff, accidentally drawing her eyes to it. It pulsated blue.

"Why does your staff glow?" she asked. I really didn't want to have to explain that. It brought back my family. Talking about them was like squeezing lemon juice into a deep gash. I stumbled with my answer.

"Umm... Batteries! It runs on batteries."

"Right." She saw through my feeble attempt at misleading the truth. "Batteries definitely work in weather 20 degrees Fahrenheit."

I pulled the book around from behind my back. "And every sane person _definitely_ reads a book out in the same temperature. _Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King_. You read _the Guardians_?"

"And I've seen the movie-" she nodded before she froze, whispering, "Jack Frost."

She stunned me. I didn't expect she'd get it so quickly, but she's smarter than she looks. Still, I couldn't believe it. "Sorry?"

"Jack Frost," she repeated. "It explains why you were in the tree, you don't have frostbitten toes or fingers, and why your staff glows."

"Right, but, you also believe in me to see me." I smirked.

"Right." She glanced at her watch while I stared at the sky. I must've slept longer than I intended. A note of worry came to her eyes. She looked as if she was in flight mode. To me, she remarked, "I have to go now."

I took her warm hand in mine, asking, "Need a ride?" Before she could answer, I pulled her into the air.

**Hi, Royals (fans of my stuff, for the new people)! Here's **_**One Wintry Spirit's Morning**_**! When I have writer's block, this might be updated more than **_**One Wintry Morning**_**. How do y'all like it so far? Review, please. -Z**


	2. One Wintry Spirit's Evening

My grip on her wrist was solid as we shot through the air. That was part of my fear though, accidentally dislocating her arm because I held her wrist. I let go, for only a second, catching her around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck, afraid I would let go again. She didn't scream, unlike anyone else who would.

"Please, don't do that again. _Ever_," she pleaded, burying her head in my shoulder. After a moment, she began directing me to her residence. Quiet she was as we flew over the houses. Snowflake pointed out Jamie's two-story tall, red house with black roof. That can't be right; Jamie didn't mention anything about someone visiting over Christmas other than his grandparents.

I doubted her, questioning, "You live here?"

After a tense moment of silence, she tersely said in her small voice, "Yes...?"

"No, Snowflake, it isn't," I sighed. "This home belongs to my first believers, Jamie and Sophie Bennett." And I doubt that their mom would be happy to find a girl she may have never seen before at her doorstep during dinner without any reason.

"Can't you just drop me off here?" She was impossible.

I didn't want to leave her that quickly. No city is safe at night. In large areas such as this, stereotypes are greatly accentuated about girls, especially those alone. No, I won't let her get hurt. Distracting her from my morbid thoughts, I returned, "And then where would I find you if I wanted to meet you again?" Most likely in an alley, injured at best, dead at worst.

"Back at the clearing." Is she that innocent?

"Nice try, but no," I retorted.

"Please?" She must be. Either that, or really persistent. Probably both. Different too, very different from the rest of the populace.

"Snowflake." I admired her persistence, I really did, but sick grown men in the depths of any city have only one thought on their minds when it comes to teenage girls in the dead of night. She sighed, finally leading me to her house. It was Lady Jay's Halfway Home for Teenage Girls. She was an orphan. My heart cracked when I discovered that she was like me, alone in the world. I came to be greater than the loss of my family, the family that I didn't know. She still has to grow into her potential; she may have even needed help vaulting over the hurdle that brought her here. "You live here?"

She glanced at the graying building, muttering, "Yes."

I set her down when her feet neared the ground. I wanted to carry her off when I saw her expression, somewhere that she would never be sad again. It was strange, wishing to do these things for a complete stranger. She didn't meet my gaze. Unraveling the tangle my arms were, she stepped closer to the rusting gate, saying, "Thank you, Jack, for the ride."

My Snowflake spun to the yard without speaking a farewell. Small puffs of snow glistened in the moonlight, refreshing the already trodden on mounds. The gate creaked as she slipped inside. Caught in my throat were words, attempts at making everything better. I couldn't hold it in anymore, lest I burst.

"Snowflake, wait!" I bounded above the icy tips of the ancient fence, seeing her face clearly. She was still sad, more so, yet not at the same time. "When can I see you again?"

Her face brightened. Before she went inside, she answered, "Tomorrow. Same place as today."

I nodded, the snow swirling as I climbed through the atmosphere. I headed to Iceland to find Sandy. Sure enough, he was on his cloud, finishing the streams of Dreamsand for the island. Catching up to him, he let me know that he was almost done putting this side of the world to sleep, a tiny portion of Africa left. I followed as he scattered Dreamsand over the last people on the coast. Finished, we talked over the Atlantic sea.

"There's this girl I met," I started, Sandy interrupting me.

"_Can she see you_?" he signed, floating contentedly on his cloud.

"Yes-" I began anew, forcefully halted.

"_Sophie, Cupcake, or Pippa_?"

"None." I had his full attention. "It seemed to me that she doesn't get many dreams anymore. I'm not certain, but if she can see me, then she might, _might_ be able to see all of us. Can you help me?" He contemplated my proposal for a minute or two, bits of dust floating into the ocean like sea-foam on a crashing shore.

"_How old is she_?" he pondered.

"She looks almost as old as I do, almost." The Sandman frowned in thought. "She's in Burgess, one of your usual stops. She's staying at Lady Jay's and from what I could tell, she sorely needs a dream; she's not happy there." He nodded at my logic.

"_I'll see what I can do. What's her name?_" He smiled as I did, a different look taking place when I said her name, disappearing as quickly as it came. It seemed to me that it was apprehension, the sparkling glint in his eyes gone.

"_Give me a few hours, it's not night yet over there_," he signed, waving me off to cover the other countries in snow. The United Kingdom was my first stop. It was always dreary over there in the summer with the continuous rain and lack of sunshine most months. Maybe the Doctor might come back this year. If he does, I hope Rose is with him. With the time all wimbly wobbly, he could visit with the Ponds. Not Clara, I've seen here in the TARDIS, but the Doctor hasn't met her in this life yet. He probably won't visit; there were no signs of Daleks, Cybermen, or any other group of chaos bent on the oblivion of the human race as of late. He didn't even attempt to help us when Pitch tried to take over the world, now that I think of it.

I carried on, lost in my musings, I discovering I coated most of Eastern Europe with Snowflake on my mind. I couldn't stand it. _Tomorrow_, I told myself,_ I'll see her in the morning_.

**¡Escribé capítulo dos! ¿Te gusta?**

**FrozenGamer27****, you really do? AWESOME!**

**That's all for now guys. Talk to everyone later. -Z**


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